


dreaming

by Rethira



Category: Naruto
Genre: F/M, M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-12-03
Updated: 2018-12-03
Packaged: 2019-09-06 14:06:03
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,392
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/16834114
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Rethira/pseuds/Rethira
Summary: obito wakes up





	dreaming

**Author's Note:**

> xpost from tumblr

obito wakes up to a familiar ceiling - his old (?) bedroom. it still- it has the burn marks from when he was practicing his _katon_ inside, and he doesn’t know why it’s a surprise to see them because he’s been waking up in this bed every day since he was 

frowning, obito rolls over and blinks at the calendar on the table beside him

today’s date has been circled-

“oh yeah!” obito cries, shooting upright and almost tripping over his own feet in his haste to get out of bed. the clock on the wall says it’s only just gone seven, so he’s not late! he absolutely won’t be late and wasn’t the alarm meant to go off an hour ago? obito glances over his shoulder and sees the alarm clock has fallen to the floor, and well, that explains that

“i’m not late i’m not late,” obito chants, washing and getting dressed faster than he has in _years_ , and maybe if he’s _really_ fast he can stop for breakfast- no if he does then he’ll _definitely_ be late and kakashi will never let him hear the end of it. _rin_ will never let him hear the end of it

his heart throbs. obito frowns.

rin. he’s going to see rin

for some reason, just the thought of it makes obito want to cry. it’s silly - he only saw her yesterday, and yeah, today’s important and he has to be on time but…

obito looks at the clock again. half past. they’re not meeting until eight, so he still has time, but with obito’s track record

“later,” obito mutters to himself, before hurrying out the door

(he’s still fifteen minutes late, but rin just smiles and forgives him)

* * *

obito’s one of the last - well, _the last_ \- uchiha to know about anything that happens in the compound. it’s not actually any different from when he was still living there; no-one ever really thought obito was important enough to talk to or anything like that, so he was always the last to know about any births or deaths or promotions, so he was also the last to offer congratulations or condolences

now that obito’s banned from the compound, the only thing that’s changed is that he isn’t expected to offer congratulations or condolences in the least - actually he’s actively discouraged, which is kinda rude and obito _would_ but none of the other uchiha will even talk to him anymore so-

he doesn’t regret it. kakashi uses obito’s sharingan better than obito ever will, and uses it more too, even though it drains his chakra way more than it would for an actual uchiha

and even if all of that wasn’t true, it’d still be worth it, just for the fact that kakashi actually smiles at him now and well, okay so he still teases obito a lot but he’s much nicer these days than he ever was before. he even encouraged obito to ask rin out!

besides, it was a gift, and obito’s not going to start taking back gifts now

(rin said yes. rin said yes and kakashi had grinned when obito told him and wished him good luck and this is everything obito could ever have wanted)

* * *

“this is it?” kakashi asks, looking around speculatively

obito nods. rin squeezes his hand reassuringly. “we’re moving in next week,” obito says

kakashi smiles - well, his eye crinkles and his mask twitches. “it’s nice,” he says, “you got pretty lucky with this place”

“yep!” rin agrees. “the last owners were in a hurry to sell though - they said they weren’t prepared for living in a ‘ninja neighbourhood’ whatever _that_ means”

kakashi chuckles and looks back at- obito blinks. there should have- wasn’t kakashi holding a book just now? bright orange cover- except no, why would he?

“obito?” rin asks

obito shakes his head and grins down at her. “sorry just thinking for a second. what were you saying?”

(the orange book is in the bookshop. _icha icha paradise_. it’s- it’s _porn_ , and obito can’t understand for a second why he thought kakashi would be reading it)

* * *

it’s a little worrying to come home and be unable to find anyone. neither kakashi nor rin are anywhere they usually are, and even minato-sensei isn’t in his office - eventually, obito stops genma to ask where they all are

“didn’t you hear? kushina-san gave birth a few days ago,” genma replies

_oh_

when obito gets to minato-sensei’s house, kushina is just in the middle of saying, “for the last time, _i’m fine_!” the end of her sentence is punctuated by a baby’s giggle and-

how did obito _forget_

(naruto isn’t a fussy baby at all. he loves everyone, and it’s kinda funny to see him valiantly tugging at kakashi’s mask whenever kakashi has to hold him)

* * *

in one of the many, many hidden spaces in their house, obito has a list. it isn’t written in any sort of code, because it probably won’t mean anything to anyone who isn’t obito, and it’s only really hidden because he doesn’t want to think about it

the list reads:

  * kakashi is always late?
  * kakashi reads porn in public?
  * kakashi is always by the memorial stone??
  * i never see minato-sensei anymore
  * _mokuton_
  * what are the uchiha’s names
  * naruto’s favourite food is ramen
  * naruto is good at pranks
  * kakashi’s first genin team will consist of uchiha sasuke, uzumaki naruto and haruno sakura
  * why can’t i remember rin’s face?



(kakashi is never late. he doesn’t know what _icha icha paradise_ even is. what is a memorial stone? minato-sensei is never busy, and yet obito never visits him. sometimes he starts to say _mokuton_ before he realises it. whenever obito says _uchiha_ he always goes to say _madara_ next, even though no uchiha would name their child _madara_. namikaze naruto is one. he has never had ramen. kakashi is ANBU and has said he never wants a genin team.

obito sees rin every morning. he sees rin every day. every time he looks away, he can’t remember what her face looks like now - he can remember her at thirteen, but no older)

* * *

“she’s due in november,” obito says, and he can’t help the grin spreading across his face

“thought of any names yet?” minato-sensei asks - this is rare, obito knows. but it’s special. it’s not every day you find out you’re going to be a father.

“we’ve only known a little while!” obito protests

“you should call him kakashi,” kakashi volunteers, and then laughs when obito shoves him

“we don’t even know what it will be yet! it’s too early for names”

minato-sensei nods sagely. “call them naruto”

“that would just be confusing,” obito replies, “and don’t you think one kid named after a ramen topping is enough?”

“he’s named after the main character in a book, i know i’ve told you this,” minato-sensei cries

“maa, maybe you could name yours after one of jiraiya-sensei’s other characters?” kakashi suggests. “i’ve been reading one of his-”

for a second, it feels like there’s cotton balls in obito’s ears. he misses whatever it was kakashi was saying.

shaking his head to clear it, obito asks, “sorry, what did you say?”

kakashi sighs. “maybe you could name it after one of the old hokage”

that… wasn’t what kakashi was saying at all

why does he- he _always_ does this-

obito manages a weak smile. “i think we’ll save the naming for later”

(rin is already at home when obito arrives. she is always at home. what does she do all day?)

* * *

there is something weird about the sky. obito can’t put his finger on it, but there’s just… something strange about it

“don’t you think so?” obito asks kakashi

kakashi barely looks up from his book. “it looks the same as always to me,” he replies

obito frowns. there is definitely _something_ weird - but the sun is in the right place, and the moon is right where it should be and the colour is right too, and there are just a few clouds in the distance and yet it’s still _wrong_ and kakashi would see it if he would just look up from his stupid _book_ -

book. _book_

obito turns around fast enough to give himself whiplash

kakashi isn’t holding a book. he has a sheaf of papers instead - ANBU assignments

funny… obito can’t remember the last assignment he was on. what did he do?

“kakashi… what do ANBU _do_?”

kakashi looks up and blinks slowly. his mask twitches. “classified, you know that, obito”

funnily enough, obito can’t remember when kakashi last had an assignment either. when did _anyone_ last have an assignment? what did they _do_?

kakashi must read some of obito’s confusion off his face. “it’s _always_ been classified, obito. that’s the whole point of ANBU”

“no i…” obito pauses. “wasn’t there… another division of ANBU? root or something?”

kakashi shrugs and tugs at his mask. obito’s never seen him without it. never ever ever, even when they’re eating- and how _does_ he eat with the mask on? they had ramen just last night and obito _knows_ kakashi ate because he cleaned up three bowls, but he doesn’t remember kakashi so much as touching it… the bowl was just empty by the time obito finished and that’s-

“hey kakashi,” obito says

“yeah?”

“why do you wear your mask?”

kakashi looks baffled. he continues to look baffled even when obito points it out, like the question is just so far beyond his understanding when it really really shouldn’t be

“you should take it off,” obito finds himself saying, even though every fibre in his being says _no, kakashi isn’t kakashi without his mask_

kakashi makes no move to do so. he just carries on staring at obito, bewildered. he doesn’t even move when obito reaches over, or when obito’s fingers graze across kakashi’s cheekbone

obito feels sick. taking off kakashi’s mask is _wrong_ , but- but he _has_ to, he has to-

obito screws his eyes shut and _yanks_

nothing happens. kakashi doesn’t hit him or shove him away. the universe doesn’t end

obito opens his eyes

he wishes he hadn’t

(there is a gaping void where kakashi’s chin should be. a blank space, a hole ripped in the fabric of reality. kakashi’s skin just fades away to _nothing_. it’s worse than anything obito could have imagined)

* * *

he figures out what was wrong with the sky

see, the sky should be blue. it should be blue and the moon should set

in the sixteen years obito’s lived here, the sky has been red and the moon has never moved an inch

the moon is also a gigantic sharingan. it’s a bit hard to miss now that he remembers what before was like

the thing that isn’t kakashi asks, “what’s wrong, obito?”

it has kakashi’s voice and mannerisms. if only it didn’t have a hole where its face should be

he can’t go back and see rin. or whatever it is pretending to be rin. he can’t- just thinking about it makes obito feel sick

this… this isn’t what he wanted

it’s so so easy for obito to carefully form the hand signs and murmur, “release”

* * *

it’s night. the moon is still hanging big and heavy in the sky, but it isn’t a sharingan. some distance away, the juubi is being slowly consumed by black flames. every so often one of naruto’s fuuton shuriken rasengans slams into it, fanning the black flames ever higher

at least that explains why the infinite tsukuyomi was so full of holes. even now he can’t remember rin’s face

someone sits down heavily beside him. a familiar mop of silver-white hair. kakashi

“why did you stop it?” kakashi asks

trust him to have figured it all out already. he never was slow on the uptake

obito swallows thickly. he croaks, “would you believe me if i said it was you?”

kakashi actually looks surprised. obito can’t blame him. he wouldn’t have believed it either

“it was a lot of little things,” obito explains. “things i knew about the real- the you here”

kakashi’s eyes crinkle. he lays one of his hands over obito’s. it’s… warm. “such as?” kakashi asks

it’s kind of embarrassing to talk about it and some of these things- well, obito only knows about them from years of dedicated stalking. he doesn’t particularly _want_ kakashi to know about all of that

“i took your mask off,” obito says. kakashi goes still beside him. “you… let me. i wish you hadn’t”

“oh?” kakashi’s tone is mild, deceptively calm

“there wasn’t anything underneath. not even skin. just. nothing. it was like looking into-” obito swallows again. “it was like looking into hell”

kakashi squeezes obito’s hand. “ah”

distantly, naruto yells, “you’re slowing down, teme!”

around them other people are waking up and staring around, disoriented. obito’s almost sorry for that. maybe for them the dream was good and real. maybe for them it was working like it should have

“do you want to see the real thing?” kakashi asks, eventually

“what?”

kakashi gestures to his face. “i haven’t shown anyone for a while, but well, i think i can make an exception for you.” his eyes crinkle again

despite himself, obito _does_ want to see. he nods

kakashi peels his mask off

he’s nothing special, really. there’s a slight tanline running across where his mask usually sits, and the end of the scar over his eye. a mole by the corner of his mouth. handsome enough

“that,” obito starts, “that is- what was the _point_? you know we had running bets on what you were hiding?”

kakashi grins, slyly. “oh _yeah_ ,” he says. “i knew all about those. actually i think i started a few of those rumours myself”

obito sighs loudly and glances away. he has to look back. looking away from kakashi’s face now, when he can still clearly remember that terrible nothingness-

“thank you,” obito murmurs

kakashi squeezes his hand again and doesn’t pull his mask up

(later, obito says, “you were the one who told me to ask rin out, in that- in that world”

kakashi laughs. “definitely not me, then”

obito frowns. “how so?”

the look kakashi gives him should speak volumes. unfortunately for kakashi, obito seems to be listening on an entirely different wavelength. he rolls his eyes

“obito,” kakashi says, “i’ve been in love with you for _years”)_


End file.
